The Federal Trade Commission public workshop “Examining Health Care Competition” held in Washington D.C. March 20-12, examined trends that may affect competition in the evolving healthcare industry. Current developments were discussed related to professional regulations, innovations in healthcare delivery, advancements in healthcare technology, measuring and assessing healthcare quality, and price transparency. (more…)
State Passes Workforce Initiatives
Several healthcare workforce expansion proposals were passed by the New Mexico Senate and House of Representatives during the recent 30 day legislative session to help expand the workforce as announced by Governor Susana Martinez. (more…)
NICHD Issues FOA
The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) within NIH released a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) on March 20th looking for applicants to participate in a Cooperative Agreement to develop a centralized Data Coordinating Center (DCC). The Center will have the primary responsibility for data management and analysis for the Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network (CPCCRN) (RFA-HD-14-020). (more…)
Predicting Deadly Diseases
Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) scientists are working to help the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) better predict epidemics and regional disease outbreaks. The program called the “24 Month Challenge” is a multi-agency program to identify and develop diagnostic devices needed to effectively do biosurveillance. Within the “24 Month Challenge” program, the NRL team has validated and verified the capabilities of multiple diagnostic devices in order to select technologies to use across the globe. (more…)
Drug Monitoring Grants Announced
The Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) is accepting grant applications for the FY 2014 “Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP)”. The FY 2014 program will provide funding up to $400,000 to help states, county governments, and tribal governments implement and enhance prescription drug monitoring programs to prevent the misuse and abuse of prescription drugs and aid in investigations of pharmaceutical crime. (more…)
HHS Establishes Network
HHS through the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) has designated five clinical research organizations to design and conduct clinical studies on drugs, vaccines, and diagnostic tests to help protect against bioterrorism, pandemic influenza, and other public health emergencies. (more…)
Mississippi’s New Telehealth Efforts
The Mississippi Delta region is expanding a new telehealth program to assist patients that are diabetic through a public-private partnership. The state faces a growing diabetes crisis, ranking second among all states nationwide in disease prevalence with more than 373,000 adults in the state living with some form of diabetes. (more…)